A Gnu Post

Now, I bet you’re wondering what the title of this post means. After all, a gnu is another word for wildebeest, which is a kind of large African cow. But, when you say the name, “gnu” you pronounce it the same as if you said, “new” and that gets to the heart of this week’s topic – homonyms.

Homonyms are words that are spelled differently but are said the same. English has all sorts of homonyms – “two”, “to” and “too” are all pronounced the same, but spelled differently. “Knight”, a kind of European samurai and “night”, as in what comes after day, have nothing to do with each other, but sound exactly the same.

The BBC website has a great game for learning homonyms over here at Skillwise Words. In the game you have to flip over the cards and match the pairs that sound the same. Turn on your speakers and give it a try. Do you know what all the words mean? What’s your best score?